Ukraine's Naftogaz can afford non-Russian gas in April: official

Published 10:56 AM ET Mon, 5 March 2018
Reuters

KIEV, March 5 (Reuters) - Ukraine's Naftogaz has enough money to pay for gas from European countries in April instead of buying cheaper gas from Russia if a dispute between Ukraine and Russia continues, Naftogaz Chief Commercial Officer Yuri Vitrenko said on Monday.

Speaking at a briefing, Vitrenko also said Naftogaz's contracts with Russia's Gazprom were unlikely to be broken before they expire in 2019.

Gazprom said last week it would end contracts with Ukraine after a Stockholm arbitration court ordered it to pay more than $2.5 billion to Naftogaz. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Adrian Croft)